Hello, it's only me AGAIN!!!

I was just wondering how often tortoises sleep, how much energy they should have etc etc.

Alfie, as you all  know is a 11 month old Spur Thigh and his indoor enclosure is a large open top rabbit cage - pictures in the Photo Gallery under 'Alfie'. He has the correct lighting -  an all in one Basking Lamp, UV-B & UV-A and this is positioned approx12 inches above his basking piece of slate. The temp here is around 92F and the other end of his enclosure is around 75F. His light comes on at 0700 hrs and goes off at 2100 hrs.

Alfie has a 'hide away' to sleep in at night but he never uses this - he just march's through it now and again. When he goes to 'bed' he tends to burrow down beside a large rock which is always warm from the basking lamp.

My question is how active should Alfie be? He is usually awake by 0715 hrs and then has breakfast. He tends to stroll round his home for a while and then 'basks'. He has a few active periods throughout the day probably for about 10 mins each and spends the rest of his time basking. He then heads on off to bed about 1700 hrs.

Is this normal?? When it's warm and he is outside in his enclousure he tends to spend a lot of time grazing and strolling round but does also bury down into the plants and sleep.

He appears to be very healthy, eats well, poo's and wee's, bright eyes, 5 cm long, weighs 32 grammes etc etc. I didn't know if he was may be bored but I have tried to make his home interesting, or may be needed a friend. Or, am I worrying over nothing?? My husband keeps telling me that he is only a baby and he needs his sleep.

Any help would be very much appreciated.

Julie

Hi Julie,

It's perfectly normal:-)

In the wild, they actually spend very little time in the open; due to the excessive heat and for fear of predators and do spend a lot of time thermo-regulating (keeping cool) under cover in a scape or in bushy areas.


HTH
Darren

Thank you Darren

After sending this Alfie spent nearly 2.5 hrs this morning just having a stroll around. Bloomin typical hey!!!

Julie